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WLnibtx&itv  of  Movty  Carolina 


Collection  of  Jlortf)  Carolmiana 

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€>i  tfje  Class:  of  1889 


A      SERMON, 


PREACHED  ON  SUNDAY,  DECEMBER  20,  1829,  AT 


THE  CONSECRATION  OF  CHRIST  CHURCH, 


RALEIGH,  N.  C. 


BY    THE 

Rt.   Rev.   JOHN    STARK   RAVENSCROFT,   D.  D. 

LATE   BISHOP    OP   THE    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 
IN   THE    DIOCESE    OP   NORTH-CAROLINA. 


$ublfsf)e&  b$  tf)e  Uestrg- 


NEW- YORK: 

PSINTED    AT    THE    NEW-YORK    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL    PRESS 

1830. 


A.    SER1  ON,    Ac. 


1  Kings  vi.  11,  12,  13. 

"  And  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Solomon,  saying,  '  Concern- 
ing this  house  which  thou  art  in  building,  if  thou  ivilt  walk  in 
my  statutes,  and  execute  my  judgments,  and  keep  all  my  com- 
mandments to  walk  in  them ;  then  will  I  perform  my  word  with 
thee,  which  I  spake  unto  David  thy  father.  And  I  ivill  dwell 
among  the  children  of  Israel,  and  will  not  forsake  my  people 
IsraeV  " 

The  connexion  of  the  text  with  the  purpose  which  we  have 
met  to  accomplish,  and  with  the  services  in  which  Ave  have  been 
engaged,  must  be  sufficiently  obvious,  I  presume,  to  all  present; 
and  the  train  of  thought  necessarily  thereby  suggested  to  every 
serious  and  well  ordered  mind,  must  lead  to  the  solemn  conside- 
rations which  are  connected  with  our  religious  condition,  as  the 
provision  and  appointment  of  the  most  wise  and  merciful  God, 
for  the  present  and  eternal  good  of  his  rational  creation.  The 
range  is  indeed  a  wide  one,  my  brethren  and  hearers  ;  too  wide 
and  extended  to  be  fully  followed  out  in  the  reasonable  compass 
of  a  single  discourse ;  yet,  in  the  leading  particulars,  which  it 
suggests  to  our  meditations,  there  will  be  found  abundant  mat- 
ter for  edification  to  all  present ;  while  there  will  not  be  want- 
ing sufficient  grounds  of  encouragement  and  satisfaction  to  those 
who  have  devoted  their  time  and  their  substance  to  provide  this 
appropriate  accommodation  for  the  public  worship  of  Almighty 
God.  "  And  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Solomon,  saying, 
'Concerning this  house  which  thou  art  in  building,  if  thou  wilt 
walk  in  my  statutes,  and  execute  my  judgments,  and  keep  all 
my  commandments  to  walk  in  them  :  then  will  I  perform  my 
word  with  thee,  which  I  spake  unto  David  thy  father.  And  I 
will  dwell  among  the  children  of  Israel,  and  will  not  forsake  my 
people  Israel.'" 

The  reflections  suggested  by  this  passage  of  Scripture,  and 
by  the  context,  in  connexion  with  the  present  occasion,  point 
to  three  subjects  of  general  edification,  which  I  shall  present  in 
their  order ;  and  then  conclude  with  an  application  of  the  whole. 


[     4     ] 

First  :  The  subject  of  religion  in  general  is  necessarily  pre- 
sented to  our  consideration,  by  the  particular  circumstance  to 
which  the  text  refers. 

On  this  subject,  it  is  all  important,  my  brethren  and  hearers, 
that  we  entertain  just  views  ;  a  mistake,  either  as  to  its  nature, 
its  derivation,  or  its  application  to  moral  condition,  must  be  at- 
tended with  danger,  and  can  only  lead  to  some  false  and  spuri- 
ous exhibition  of  an  unfounded  hope.  Yet  on  no  other  subject, 
perhaps,  with  which  men  engage,  is  there  less  previous  thought 
bestowed,  even  by  serious  persons ;  and,  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence, upon  no  other  is  there  so  great  a  variety,  both  of  opi- 
nion and  practice. 

If,  then,  it  be  inquired  "What  is  religion?"  the  answer  is 
ready,  That  it  is  the  cultivation  of  the  divine  nature  and  image, 
impressed  upon  moral  beings  at  their  creation.  It  is  the  ren- 
dering to  the  glorious  and  underived  Author  of  all  being  the  ho- 
mage of  the  affections,  the  conformity  of  the  will,  and  the  obe- 
dience of  the  conduct,  singly  and  unceasingly.  This  is  religion, 
as  exhibited  before  the  throne  of  God,  by  those  pure  and  holy 
beings  who  have  never  swerved  from  the  love  of  their  Creator. 
This  is  religion,  as  enjoyed  and  practised  by  our  first  parents, 
before  their  apostacy  from  God,  and  will  be  that  of  their  poste- 
rity, when,  purified  from  the  corruption  of  their  nature,  and  re- 
covered to  holiness  by  the  grace  of  the  gospel,  they  shall  be  re- 
stored to  the  bright  inheritance  forfeited  by  sin.  But  such  is 
not,  cannot  be,  the  religion  of  sinners  ;  a  religion  calculated  for 
fallen,  depraved,  and  corrupt  creatures,  alienated  from  God, 
must  be  suitable  to  their  condition,  commensurate  with  their 
powers  of  moral  improvement,  and  calculated  to  try  and  to 
prove  the  sincerity  and  strength  of  their  faith.  Faith,  as  a  moral 
virtue,  as  a  religious  duty,  is  unknown  to  the  religion  of  heaven. 
But  on  earth,  it  is  the  foundation  on  which  the  entire  super- 
structure is  built  up,  and  without  which  the  whole  aim,  purpose, 
and  design  of  religion  is  defeated,  and  its  attainments  rendered 
impossible.  The  religion  of  heaven  is  neither  derived  from  re- 
velation, nor  enforced  by  command,  nor  produced  with  effort, 
nor  assisted  by  sacraments  as  means  of  grace,  nor  encumbered 
with  ministers  and  places,  and  times  and  seasons  for  the  per- 
formance of  its  holy  duties.  No,  my  brethren ;  the  love  of  God 
is  the  unmixed  element  of  their  being,  and  its  exhibition  in  ado- 
ration and  praise,  the  spontaneous  offering,  the  overflowing  of 
the  ravished  spirit,  the  unceasing  and  happy  employment  of 
those  pure  and  uncontaminated  spirits  who  dwell  for  ever  in  the 
presence  of  God,  and  derive  from  the  unveiled  brightness  of 
the  heavenly  glory,  continual  increase  of  love,  and  joy,  and 


[     5     J 

peace,  and  blessedness  unspeakable  ;  whereas  the  religion  of  re- 
deemed sinners  is  a  prescribed  and  limited  institution,  with  ritual 
observances,  and  outward  and  visible  ordinances,  in  the  hands 
of  an  appointed  ministry  ;  all  derived  from  express  revelation — 
authorized  by  divine  appointment — enforced  by  positive  com- 
mand— attainable  only  through  the  painful  efforts  of  watchful- 
ness, self-denial,  and  mortification  ol  the  natural  inclinations — 
and  after  all,  prompted  and  wrought  out  in  the  desire,  and  en- 
lightened and  assisted  in  the  endeavour  of  the  fallen  creature, 
by  the  divine  grace  of  a  divine  Saviour,  as  the  source  and  spring 
of  "  all  holy  desires,  all  good  counsels,  and  all  just  works." 

In  our  estimate  of  religion,  therefore,  to  confound  what  is  pe- 
culiar to  our  condition  as  a  state  of  trial  and  moral  improvement, 
with  what  belongs  to  the  same  thing,  under  opposite  circum- 
stances ;  and  thence  to  decry,  undervalue,  and  cast  away  ritual 
observances,  and  positive  institutions,  as  weak  and  beggarly  ele- 
ments, unworthy  of  our  care  and  observance,  is  to  make  ship- 
wreck of  the  faith ;  and,  in  the  unbridled  license  of  a  heated 
imagination,  to  surrender  the  soul  to  the  deceits  of  an  inexpli- 
cable mysticism,  or  to  the  equally  dangerous  delusions  of  an  en- 
thusiastic and  unbalanced  mind.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
be  wise  above  what  is  written,  in  departing  from  the  revealed 
appointments  and  commanded  duties  of  the  wisdom  of  God  for 
the  attainment  of  eternal  salvation,  is  to  vacate  revelation  as  the 
foundation  of  faith,  and  to  incur  the  awful  risk  of  being  surren- 
dered to  that  strong  delusion  which  God  threatens  to  send  upon 
those  "  who  receive  not  the  love  of  the  truth,  that  they  might  be 
saved." 

Yet  all  wish  to  be  saved — yea,  we  may  say  with  truth,  that 
all  hope  to  be  saved.  That  there  is  not  one  in  this  congrega- 
tion— no,  not  one,  even  in  the  wide  range  where  the  Christian 
revelation  is  known,  or  in  the  still  wider  range,  where  "  dark- 
ness covers  the  earth  and  gross  darkness  the  people" — who  does 
not  hope,  on  some  principle,  true  or  false,  that  another  state  of 
being  will  place  him  in  unchangeable  enjoyment.  For,  my 
hearers,  in  the  very  elements  of  his  nature,  man  is  a  religious 
being  ;  and  though  fallen,  degraded,  and  blinded,  and,  over  the 
greater  part  of  this  poor  world,  alike  ignorant  of  God  and  of 
himself,  yet  claims  relationship  with  eternity,  and  intuitively 
seeks  to  propitiate  and  appease  the  unknown  God,  whom  he 
fears  but  cannot  love.  And  it  is  well  worthy  of  your  serious 
notice,  my  friends,  that  man  never  has  been  found  in  the  cir- 
cumference of  this  world,  so  devoid  of  intellect,  and  degraded  in 
condition,  as  to  be  divested  of  all  religious  impression.  Yea, 
more  than  this — he  hath  nowhere  been  found  collected  into  a 


[     6     ] 

community,  without  exhibiting  the  shadow  of  that  substance 
contained  in  the  revelation  we  are  favoured  with.  The  temple, 
the  priest,  the  altar,  and  the  victim,  of  the  grossest  and  most 
disgusting  superstition,  sets  the  seal  of  universal  humanity  to  the 
fundamental  truth  that  sinners  can  approach  God  acceptably 
only  through  a  representative,  and  be  cleansed  from  guilt  no 
other  wise  than  by  an  atonement  of  blood,  washing  away  the 
defilement  of  sin. 

To  a  testimony  thus  universal  in  favour  of  religion,  we  refer, 
on  the  present  occasion,  as  calculated,  in  the  judgment  of  your 
preacher,  to  arrest  the  prevailing  disposition  of  the  present  day 
to  strip  the  religion  of  the  gospel  of  its  peculiar  distinctions  and 
external  observances,  to  divest  them  of  the  sacred  character  of 
divine  appointments,  equally  bound  upon  our  observance  with 
the  body  of  revealed  doctrine,  and  to  reduce  the  Christian  sys- 
tem to  the  nakedness  of  an  abstraction  which  may  safely  be  mo- 
dified according  to  the  convenience  or  the  caprice  of  individual 
inclination.  That  the  influence  of  some  such  mistaken  princi- 
ple is  at  work  in  the  world,  is  rendered  certain,  not  only  by  the 
existence  of  those  divisions  which  deform  the  beauty  and  destroy 
the  unity  of  the  gospel,  but  still  more  by  the  indifference  and 
disregard  manifested  by  the  great  majority  of  our  population,  to 
any  mode  or  form,  under  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  render 
Christianity  more  palatable  to  the  pride  and  prejudice  of  a  de- 
praved nature.  That  this  exists  to  an  alarming  degree,  in  all 
Christian  lands,  cannot  justly  be  questioned ;  and  to  account 
for  it,  we  must  resort  either  to  absolute  infidelity,  or  to  indiffer- 
ence, on  the  grounds  just  mentioned.  And  the  consciences  of 
all  present,  who  are,  unhappily  for  themselves  and  for  their 
country,  unconnected  with  the  gospel,  can  best  witness  to  which 
of  these  two  causes  their  diregard  of  God's  gracious  and  only 
provision  for  the  salvation  of  sinners,  is  to  be  referred.  For  it 
is  not  my  province  to  judge,  my  hearers  ;  but  it  is  strictly  so  to 
give  you  grounds  on  which  to  examine  and  judge  yourselves. 

Of  absolute  infidelity — that  is,  of  actual  rejection  of  reve- 
lation— none  present,  I  trust,  stand  convicted  to  themselves. 
On  the  contrary,  I  am  almost  sure,  that  belief  of  the  Scriptures, 
as  a  revelation  from  God  for  the  good  of  mankind,  would  be  the 
serious  confession  of  all  who  hear  me.  To  the  delusion,  then, 
that  the  great  purpose  of  the  gospel,  in  their  eternal  salvation, 
can  be  answered  without  the  external  profession,  the  practice, 
the  fellowship  and  the  sacraments  of  religion,  must  this  neglect 
be  referred.  Otherwise,  rational  beings  must  be  convicted  of 
the  desperate  folly  of  deliberately  choosing  and  following  out 
their  own  perdition. 


[     7     ] 

Yet,  my  dear  friends  and  fellow  sinners,  what  but  perdition  of 
soul  and  body  in  hell,  must  be  the  consequence  to  those  who, 
under  the  grace  and  truth  which  came  by  Jesus  Christ,  pass 
their  short  and  uncertain  period  of  probation  and  improvement 
for  eternity  unconnected  with  the  requirements  of  the  gospel, 
and  regardless  of  the  conditions  on  which  alone  the  mercy  of 
God  is  tendered  to  a  world  of  sinners'?  Remember,  I  beseech 
you,  in  the  first  place,  "  that  God  hath  no  need  of  the  sinful 
man ;"  therefore,  salvation  is  wholly  of  grace — "  Of  his  mercy 
he  saved  us  by  the  washing  of  regeneration,  and  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  In  the  second  place,  remember  "  that  God  now 
commandeth  all  men  everywhere  to  repent"  and  "  believe  the 
gospel ;"  because  "  he  hath  appointed  a  day  in  the  which  he  will 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness."  And  in  the  third  place,  bear  in 
mind,  that  "except  a  man  be  born  again,"  except  he  be  "born  of 
water  and  of  the  Spirit,"  and  do  eat  the  flesh  and  drink  the  blood 
of  the  divine  Saviour,  in  the  sacraments  of  his  death  and  resur- 
rection, this  salvation  is  unattainable.  And  most  earnestly  and 
affectionately  are  we  cautioned  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  word 
of  God,  not  to  be  wise  in  our  own  conceits — not  to  listen  to  the 
self-righteous  pride  of  our  corrupt  hearts,  tempting  us  to  hew  out 
cisterns  of  salvation  for  ourselves,  and  by  departing  from  pre- 
scribed conditions,  to  cast  away  from  our  hope  the  precious  pro- 
mises of  God,  ratified  in  the  blood  of  Christ. 

Secondly  :  From  this  passage  of  Scripture,  in  connexion  with 
the  building  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  we  are  led  to  inquire 
into  the  design  and  obligation  of  ritual  and  ceremonial  appoint- 
ments in  religion. 

I  think  it  must  be  admitted,  my  brethren  and  friends,  that  in 
the  degree  in  which  the  circumstantials  of  any  positive  institu- 
tion are  respected,  will  the  institution  itself  be  esteemed,  or  light- 
ly regarded.  The  inquiry,  therefore,  I  trust,  will  not  be  with- 
out its  use,  as  a  subject  of  general  edification  on  the  great  con- 
cern which  I  wish  to  impress  upon  your  consciences  this  day. 

It  is  very  true,  that  though  religion  is  in  itself  prior  to,  and 
independent  of,  all  ritual  appointments,  and  external  accommo- 
dations— yet,  never  in  this  world  has  it  been  presented  to  man- 
kind, abstracted  from  outward  and  visible  observances,  as  a  part, 
and  an  essential  part  too,  of  every  dispensation  revealed  to  the 
faith  and  obedience  of  redeemed  man.  The  patriarchal,  the 
Jewish,  and  the  Christian  dispensations  of  "  the  grace  given  us, 
in  Christ  Jesus,  before  the  world  began,"  had,  and  have,  each 
of  them,  peculiar  rites  and  positive  institutions,  which,  under 
some  variety  of  modification,  have  continued  integral  parts  of 
each  succeeding  dispensation  of  revealed  religion  ;  and  as  their 


[     8     ] 

origin  was  the  same,  so  was  the  purpose  they  were  intended  to 
answer,  in  the  economy  of  divine  grace. 

In  their  origin,  they  come  from  God ;  they  are  of  his  ap- 
pointment, and  only  as  such  can  they  be  the  objects  of  faith  to 
rational  beings,  or  be  required  of  them  as  religious  duties. 
Their  obligation,  therefore,  is  supreme,  and  binds  every  soul 
under  the  particular  dispensation,  to  a  faithful  observance  of 
what  is  thus  appointed.  Of  this,  we  have  a  very  instructive 
example  given  us  in  the  earliest  record  of  the  worship  of  his 
Creator  enjoined  upon  fallen  man.,  The  rite  of  sacrifice  being 
the  chief  external  observance  of  the  patriarchal  religion,  and  the 
animal  and  the  manner  of  the  offering  being  expressly  desig- 
nated, a  departure,  on  the  part  of  Cain,  the  first  born  from  Adam, 
from  what  the  Almighty  had  prescribed  for  his  observance,  was 
visited  by  rejection  of  his  unbidden  offering.  Presenting  an 
awful  warning  to  will-worshippers  of  every  age,  and  a  most 
pointed  condemnation  of  those  many  inventions  of  men,  where- 
with the  gospel  is  both  disfigured  and  impeded. 

The  positive  institutions  common  to  every  dispensation  of  re- 
vealed religion  are  five  in  number — viz  :  The  day  of  rest,  or 
Sabbath,  or  Lord's  day,  as  it  has  successively  been  called,  in 
commemoration  of  the  finishing  of  the  works  of  creation  :  mar- 
riage, or  the  union  of  one  man  and  one  woman  in  holy  matri- 
mony ;  the  rite  of  sacrifice  ;  the  priestly  office,  to  minister 
in  holy  things  ;  and  the  temple,  or  place  set  apart  for  the  public 
offices  of  religion.  And  by  considering  the  design  or  purpose 
of  Almighty  God  in  the  appointment  of  the  three  last  mentioned, 
as  more  directly  connected  with  the  subject,  we  shall  more 
clearly  understand  their  obligation  for  our  observance. 

Jlnd  first — Of  the  rite  of  sacrifice,  as  a  divine  institution. 

Now  this  was  evidently,  in  the  first  place,  to  show  to  the  sinner 
the  utter  hopelessness  of  his  condition,  from  any  thing  in  him- 
self. That  he  had  become  unworthy  to  approach  God,  even  as 
a  worshipper.  And  that,  as  his  own  life  was  forfeited  to  the  di- 
vine justice,  by  his  disobedience,  he  could  never  henceforward 
be  heard  or  accepted,  but  through  a  Divine  Mediator. 

In  the  second  place — The  appointment  of  an  animal  slain  by 
the  shedding  of  its  blood,  was  intended  to  keep  alive  among 
mankind  the  knowledge  and  effect  of  the  first  and  most  gracious 
promise  made  to  fallen  man : — That  in  the  fulness  of  time  the 
seed  of  the  woman  should  overcome  the  enemy  of  the  human 
race,  deliver  mankind  from  the  power  and  dominion  of  sin,  and 
by  offering  an  adequate  atonement  to  the  offended  justice  of 
God,  restore  them  to  his  favour,  and  recover  for  them  the  bright 
inheritance  which  was  forfeited  by  sin. 


[     9     ] 

And  in  the  third  place — to  furnish  a  visible  channel  or  means 
of  divine  grace,  through  which  only  can  fallen,  spiritually  dead 
creatures,  be  regenerated  ;  that  is,  restored  to  moral  competency, 
and  rendered  capable  of  religious  attainments. 

This  is  a  design,  my  brethren  and  hearers,  which,  while  the 
world  shall  continue  to  be  peopled  with  successive  generations 
of  sinners,  must  needs  be  continued  in  operation  ;  and  only  as 
it  is  truly  realized,  and  heartily  embraced  and  followed  out,  can 
those  successive  generations  escape  from  the  curse  and  con- 
demnation which  rest  upon  unbelief,  with  the  superadded  guilt 
of  rejected  salvation. 

Secondly — Of  the  priestly  office. 

To  minister  in  holy  things,  and  especially  to  serve  at  the  al- 
tar, offering  gifts  and  sacrifices  to  God  for  man,  is  the  natural 
right  of  no  sinful  mortal.  It  must  be  conferred  by  the  Almigh- 
ty, and  be  certified  to  be  so  conferred,  not  only  to  avoid  pre- 
sumptuous sin  on  the  part  of  the  offerer,  but  to  give  certainty 
and  effect  to  those  outward  and  visible  religious  ordinances, 
which,  by  the  appointment  of  God,  have  an  inward  and  spiritual 
grace  annexed  to  their  due  administration  and  reception.  From 
the  beginning,  therefore,  it  has  been  so  ordered,  that  "  no  man 
taketh  this  honour  unto  himself."  Under  the  patriarchal  period, 
the  priestly  office  was  the  privilege  of  the  first  born  son.  Under 
the  Jewish  economy,  a  particular  tribe,  that  of  Levi,  was  set 
apart  by  divine  direction  for  the  service  of  religion  generally  ; 
and  in  that  tribe  a  particular  family,  that  of  Aaron,  was  special- 
ly selected  for  the  succession  to  the  highest  grade  of  the  priest- 
hood, as  then  modified.  And  under  the  Christian  dispensation, 
the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith  selected  the  twelve  Apostles, 
who  were  eye  witnesses  of  his  resurrection  and  ascension  into 
heaven,  as  the  visible  and  verifiable  root  from  which  the  succes- 
sion of  the  Christian  priesthood  should  be  derived,  to  the  end  of 
the  world.  When,  therefore,  we  consider  the  inseparable  con- 
nexion betwixt  a  sacrifice  or  a  sacrament,  as  divine  institutions, 
and  a  priest  or  divinely  authorised  person,  to  offer  them  to  God 
on  the  part  of  others — when  we  reflect  on  the  signal  manner  in 
which  the  contempt  of  this  high  distinction — as  in  the  case  of 
Esau — or  the  invasion  of  its  sacred  rights — as  in  the  case  of  Co- 
rah and  his  company  in  the  wilderness,  and  of  king  Uzziah, 
who  was  smitten  with  leprosy  because  he  attempted  to  burn  in- 
cense upon  the  altar — was  vindicated ;  the  obligation  to  reverence 
the  office,  and  to  profit  by  this  provision  of  the  wisdom  of  God 
for  the  regular  and  effectual  administration  and  participation  of 
the  sacraments  of  the  gospel,  must  be  understood  and  felt  by 
every  serious  person. 
2 


[    io    ] 

It  has  indeed  been  contended,  that  the  priestly  office  ceased 
with  the  Jewish  dispensation  ;  and  that,  as  there  are  no  longer 
proper  sacrifices  to  be  offered  up  to  God,  the  ministerial  office 
under  the  gospel  is  not  a  proper  priesthood ;  not  to  be  estimated 
according  to  what  was  particular  to  it  under  the  law. 

Into  this  question  I  enter  not  on  the  present  occasion,  further 
than  to  observe,  that  the  assertion  itself,  and  the  argument  con- 
structed for  its  support,  are  derived  from  the  necessity  of  those 
who,  in  comparatively  modern  times,  have  assumed  the  minis- 
terial office  without  due  warrant  and  authority  :  and  that  the 
whole  is  founded  on  the  erroneous  notion  that  the  priestly  cha- 
racter is  confined  to  the  acts  of  sacrificing  and  offering  the  vic- 
tim ;  whereas,  in  truth,  the  priestly  character  is  derived  altoge- 
ther from  its  being  a  representative  office,  instituted  to  adminis- 
ter the  things  of  God  to  and  with  men  ;  dependent  wholly  on 
the  mediatorial  scheme  of  religion,  to  continue  until  that  scheme 
shall  be  completed,  and  of  the  same  sacredness  and  obligation, 
whether  the  sacrifice  offered  be  proper,  as  of  a  slain  animal,  or 
symbolical,  as  in  the  Eucharist.  Every  priest,  lawfully  called 
and  set  apart  to  his  holy  office,  from  the  first  born  under  the 
patriarchal  dispensation,  to  the  apostolick  succession  of  the  pre- 
sent day,  has  been,  and  was  intended  to  be,  a  representative  of 
our  great  High  Priest,  the  man  Christ  Jesus.  The  material  sa- 
crifices of  slain  beasts,  and  purification  by  the  sprinkling  of  ac- 
tual blood,  have  indeed  been  abrogated  by  the  offering  up  of  the 
body  of  Christ,  once  for  all.  But  the  representative  sacrifice 
of  his  death,  and  of  the  purification  of  his  atoning  blood,  still 
continue  to  be  administered  in  the  sacraments  of  the  church  y 
and  derive  their  whole  benefit  to  us  as  instituted  means  of  grace — 
receive  their  true  character  as  sacraments  from  the  authority  to 
consecrate  and  administer  them  as  divine  appointments. 

God  hath  indeed  most  wonderfully  provided  Himself  and  us 
with  a  Lamb  for  a  burnt  offering.  This  "  Lamb  of  God,  which 
taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world,"  the  worthy  Christian  com- 
municant discerns  by  faith,  as  slain  for  him,  in  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Cross.  By  faith  he  offers  this  to  God,  through  the  appoint- 
ed channel  of  the  Christian  priesthood,  as  the  substitute  for  his 
own  forfeited  life,  a  spiritual  sacrifice  acceptable  to  God,  and 
partaking  of  the  bread  of  life,  by  eating  the  flesh  and  drinking 
the  blood  of  the  great  sin  offering,  under  the  appointed  symbols 
of  consecrated  bread  and  wine.  He  derives  therefrom  the 
strength  and  consolation  which  faith  imparts  to  the  soul,  and 
that  measure  of  divine  grace  which  enables  him  to  hold  fast  his 
profession  without  wavering,  and  to  "  press  towards  the  mark 
for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus." 


E    n    1 

Thirdly — Of  the  temple,  or  place  solemnly  set  apart  for  the 
public  offices  of  religion. 

That  proper  accommodations  for  the  performance  of  the  pub- 
lic duties  of  religion  are  indispensable  to  a  visible  society  of  pro- 
fessing believers,  we  are  taught,  my  brethren,  not  only  by  the 
precepts  and  example  of  former  dispensations,  but  by  the  reason 
of  the  thing.  As  we  are  commanded  "  not  to  forsake  the  assem- 
bling of  ourselves  together,"  there  must  be  a  suitable  place  to  as- 
semble at.  And  as  the  Christian  sacrifice  of  the  Eucharist  is 
continually  to  be  offered,  until  our  Lord  shall  come  again,  there 
must  be  an  altar  and  a  priesthood  for  the  sacred  purpose.  In 
the  infancy  of  the  world,  indeed,  and  before  it  became  expedient 
to  institute  the  church  as  a  visible  society,  every  family,  every 
particular  household,  possessed  an  altar,  and  a  priesthood  there- 
at to  serve,  in  the  person  of  the  head  of  the  family  or  of  the  first 
born  son.  But  when  the  corruption  of  religion,  the  increase  of 
idolatry  and  wickedness,  and  the  approach  of  the  appointed  time 
for  the  fulfilment  of  the  original  promise,  rendered  it  necessary 
to  select  a  particular  family  from  which  the  Messiah  should 
spring  ;  the  church,  in  its  distinctive  and  particular  character, 
was  called  into  being,  and  constituted  the  sole  depository  of  the 
revealed  will,  prescribed  worship,  precious  promises,  and  enli- 
vening presence  of  their  God  and  Saviour.  And  when,  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  the  increase  of  their  number  and  their  deliverance 
from  Egyptian  bondage,  rendered  a  place  of  public  assembly 
for  the  performance  of  their  religious  services  necessary,  God 
was  pleased  to  command  the  erection  of  the  tabernacle  in  the 
wilderness,  and  afterwards,  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  as  habi- 
tations for  his  holy  name ;  as  places  to  receive  the  offerings  of 
his  worshippers,  and  to  dispense  his  blessings  to  his  people, 
through  the  divinely  appointed  office  of  the  priesthood  :  as  he 
also  was  pleased  to  manifest  his  acceptance  of  the  buildings,  by 
a  visible  display  of  his  glory  at  their  respective  dedications. 

In  like  manner,  when  our  blessed  Lord  had  purchased  to  him- 
self a  kingdom,  by  finishing  the  work  which  his  Father  had  given 
him  to  do,  he  founded  his  church,  his  mystical  body,  and  sent 
forth  his  servants,  the  apostles,  to  teach  all  nations — to  proclaim 
the  glad  tidings  of  a  reconciled  God,  of  the  pardon  of  sin,  and 
of  eternal  life  through  faith  in  his  name  ;  and  to  receive  into  his 
church  by  baptism  all  who  should  embrace  their  doctrine. 
These,  his  faithful  servants,  accordingly  went  forth  and  preached 
everywhere  ;  "  God  also  bearing  them  witness,  both  with  signs 
and  wonders,  and  with  divers  miracles  and  gifts  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  according  to  his  own  will :" — "  So  that  believers  were  the 
more  added  to  the  church."  And  as  their  numbers  increased,  and 


[     12     ] 

the  circumstances  of  the  times  permitted,  they  too  erected  places 
of  worship,  and  solemnly  dedicated  them  to  the  service  of  Al- 
mighty God.  It  is  true,  we  read  of  no  miracles  indicating  the 
acceptance  of  their  houses  of  prayer,  on  the  part  of  Almighty 
God  ;  neither  have  we  any  certain  information  of  fixed  places 
for  the  performance  of  Christian  worship,  during  the  period  that 
miracles  were  wrought  in  confirmation  of  the  gospel.  While  ex- 
posed to  the  persecuting  Heathen  power,  Christians  were  obli- 
ged to  meet  secretly  and  as  they  could,  for  the  performance  of 
their  sacred  solemnities.  Yet,  whether  in  private  houses,  in  the 
recesses  of  some  forest,  or  in  the  concealment  of  some  cavern  of 
the  earth,  they  were  still  the  church,  the  peculium  of  God  ;  and 
whether  in  Rome  or  Jerusalem,  in  Greece  or  in  Egypt,  in  Asia 
or  in  Africa,  they  collectively  formed  that  one  visible  body,  of 
which  Christ  is  the  Supreme  Head  and  Almighty  Saviour ;  of 
which  every  national  church,  derived  from  the  apostles  of  Christ, 
is  a  branch,  and  every  particular  congregation  a  member  ; 
against  which  no  weapon  formed  shall  prosper  ;  against  which 
the  gates  of  Hell  shall  not  prevail ;  and  with  which  Christ  hath 
promised  to  be  present,  by  his  Spirit,  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

Such,  my  brethren  and  hearers,  is  the  gracious  and  merciful 
provision  which  the  wisdom  of  God  hath  made  in  the  external 
and  positive  institutions  of  religion,  for  the  furtherance  and  help 
of  our  fahh.  A  church,  a  ministry  and  sacraments,  are  indis- 
pensable to  the  religious  condition  of  fallen,  sinful  beings,  re- 
prieved from  condemnation,  and  placed  in  the  hand  of  a  Divine 
Mediator  for  recovery  and  salvation.  The  whole  economy  of 
grace,  therefore,  is  so  constructed  as  to  keep  before  their  eyes, 
in  the  boldest  relief,  this  master-principle  of  encouragement, 
exertion,  and  success ;  and  with  a  design  so  gracious,  a  provi- 
sion so  excellent,  and  an  obligation  so  commanding,  it  is  deeply 
to  be  lamented  that  so  few,  comparatively,  are  drawn  by  these 
cords  of  love  to  the  Father  of  Mercies,  for  that  eternal  life  which 
is  in  his  only  begotten  Son — that  under  the  light  of  the  gospel 
multitudes  of  accountable  immortals  pass  through  their  day  of 
trial  and  grace  without  opening  their  eyes  to  the  light — and,  that 
under  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  still  greater  numbers  resist  the 
convictions  of  divine  truth,  and  say  to  their  consciences,  "Go 
thy  way  for  this  time ;  when  I  have  a  convenient  season,  I  will 
call  for  thee." 

In  the  third  and  last  place — From  this  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture we  have  confirmed  in  a  very  striking  manner  the  reasonable 
and  unchangeable  conditions  on  which  alone  the  promises  of  God 
can  be  attained  by  us.  The  conditions  are,  a  full,  unreserved, 
and  sincere  obedience  to  the  revealed  will  of  God — a  thankful 


t     13     ] 

reception  of  his  offered  mercy,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  J 
and  a  diligent  cultivation  of  the  means  of  grace,  for  the  attain- 
ment of  that  "  holiness,  without  which  no  man  shall  see  the 
Lord.'5 

"  And  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Solomon,  saying,  '  Con- 
cerning this  house  which  thou  art  in  building,  if  thou  wilt  walk 
in  my  statutes,  and  execute  my  judgments,  and  keep  all  my 
commandments  to  walk  in  them ;  then  will  I  perform  my  word 
with  thee,  which  I  spake  unto  David  thy  father  :  and  I  will 
dwell  among  the  children  of  Israel,  and  will  not  forsake  my  peo- 
ple Israel.'" 

These  are  the  conditions  on  which,  to  you  also,  my  friends 
and  hearers,  as  to  Israel  of  old,  the  promises  of  God  are  sus- 
pended ;  and  you  must  fulfil  the  conditions,  on  your  part,  other- 
wise you  forfeit  the  glorious  reward  held  out  to  your  hopes. 
Revealed  religion,  remember,  is  a  matter  of  strict  covenant  en- 
gagement, and  to  every  baptized  person  is  strictly  a  personal 
contract.  In  this  contract  you  have  solemnly  engaged,  on  your 
part,  to  renounce  the  devil,  the  world,  and  the  flesh ;  and  dili- 
gently to  keep  God's  holy  commandments :  and  on  his  part, 
your  Heavenly  Father  hath  engaged  to  give  you  the  assistance 
of  his  Holy  Spirit,  to  enable  you  to  perform  your  engagement ; 
and  to  reward  your  faith  and  obedience  with  eternal  life.  To 
expect  it,  therefore,  on  any  other  conditions,  is  the  grievous  folly 
of  expecting  to  reap  where  you  have  not  sowed,  and  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  a  situation  for  which  you  have  made  no  preparation. 

That  the  promises  of  God  are  conditioned  on  our  faithfulness 
to  the  baptismal  engagement,  is  an  awakening  thought  at  all 
times  ;  and  particularly  so  on  the  present  occasion,  my  brethren 
of  the  church,  when  the  cloud  which  has  so  long  hovered  over 
your  prospects  appears  to  be  withdrawn,  and  the  promise  of  a 
brighter  day  to  be  dawning  around  you.  Almost  against  hope, 
and  through  various  disappointments,  the  zeal  and  liberality  of  a 
few  praiseworthy  individuals  have  succeeded  in  erecting  a  com- 
modious and  respectable  building,  in  which  to  worship  the  God 
of  your  fathers  and  to  participate  in  those  sacred  ordinances 
which  are  the  divinely  appointed  channels  of  grace  to  your  souls. 
This  building  you  have  surrendered  to  God,  and  called  upon  me, 
in  virtue  of  mine  office,  to  consecrate  and  set  it  apart,  exclusive- 
ly, to  the  worship  and  service  of  his  holy  name.  This  duty  I  have 
performed  this  day,  before  many  witnesses,  and  before  God  the 
Judge  of  all.  I  have  laid  before  you  the  nature  of  your  religion 
— the  design  and  obligation  of  the  positive  institutions  connected 


[     14     ] 

with  it — and  the  conditions  on  Avhich  alone  can  this  or  any  other 
religious  advantage  be  truly  profitable  to  you.  Before  these 
witnesses,  then,  and  before  that  heart-searching  Eye  which  now 
looks  down  upon  us,  I  charge  you  to  bear  in  mind  and  faithfully 
to  fulfil  the  conditions  on  which  only  will  his  promised  blessings 
continue  with  you.  Bear  in  mind,  my  brethren,  that  this  house 
is  now  separated  from  all  unhallowed  and  common  uses.  Be 
diligent,  therefore,  to  discharge  from  your  hearts  the  unhallow- 
ed love  of  the  world,  and  from  your  lives  the  too,  too  frequent 
conformity  with  its  vain  and  vicious  practices  ;  lest,  by  your  ir- 
reverent coming  into  his  presence,  you  profane  that  which  is 
now  "holiness  unto  the  Lord."  "Keep  thy  foot  when  thou 
goest  to  the  house  of  God,"  says  the  wise  preacher  and  king  of 
Israel  to  his  people.  That  is,  prepare  for  the  solemn  service  of 
God,  by  searching  your  hearts,  and  trying  your  spirits,  and  ex- 
amining your  lives,  in  the  retirement  of  your  private  devotions. 
This  will  preserve  you  from  "  offering  the  sacrifice  of  fools,"  in 
a  mere  unmeaning  lip-service — will  enable  and  prepare  you  to 
pray  with  the  understanding  for  the  relief  of  particular  wants, 
and  with  fervency  of  spirit  for  general  blessings.  "  Come  out 
from  among  them,  and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and  touch 
not  the  unclean  thing,  and  I  will  receive  you  ;  and  I  will  be  a 
father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  sons  and  daughters  saith  the 
Lord  Almighty."  And  thus  preached  the  inspired  apostle  St. 
Paul,  to  the  fashionable  Christians  of  the  dissolute  city  of  Co- 
rinth. From  his  Epistles  to  them,  it  would  appear  that  they 
were  fond  of  the  shows  and  feasts  made  in  the  idolatrous  tem- 
ples ;  of  the  exhibitions  and  games  presented  in  the  amphithea- 
tre and  circus  ;  and  of  the  other  vanities  in  which  wealth,  idle- 
ness, and  irreligion,  sport  away  the  burden  of  their  superfluity. 
But  such,  St.  Paul  well  knew,  "  was  not  the  spot  of  God's  chil- 
dren ;"  and  to  reclaim  them  from  this  vicious  and  ruinous  con- 
formity with  the  world,  he  showed  them,  by  arguments  of 
reason,  how  every  way  inconsistent  such  conduct  was  with  their 
holy  profession.  "What  communion  hath  light  with  darkness? 
and  what  concord  hath  Christ  with  Belial  1  and  what  agreement 
hath  the  temple  of  God  with  idols  ?"  And  to  stir  them  up  to 
higher  and  better  things,  he  sets  before  them  the  promises  of 
God,  and  reminds  them  of  the  high  privileges  they  were  entitled 
to  as  his  adopted  children.  And  the  same  precious  promises, 
and  the  same  exalted  privileges  are  yours,  my  brethren  ;  but  on 
the  same  conditions  of  distinct  separation  from  the  vanity  and 
ungodliness  of  the  times.  Therefore,  my  beloved  brethren, 
"  touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not ;"  but  come  out  from  among 
the  votaries  of  the  world,  and  be  separate  ;  as  in  profession,  so 


[     15     ] 

likewise  in  practice.  Study  to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our 
Saviour  in  all  things,  keeping  ever  before  you  the  hope  of  your 
high  calling,  and  the  unchangeable  conditions  on  which  only 
the  promises  of  God  are  Yea  and  Amen  to  us,  in  Christ  Jesus. 

1  come  now  to  apply  what  has  been  said. 

If  I  have  not  failed  altogether  in  my  object,  I  cannot  but  hope 
that  the  attention  with  which  I  have  been  favoured,  must  alrea- 
dy have  suggested  this  reflection  to  many,  who  are  yet  strangers 
to  the  power  and  influence  of  religion : — "Why  have  I  been  so  long 
negligent  of  that  which  is  of  such  infinite  importance  and  im- 
measurable obligation  ?"  And  have  you  been  able,  my  brother,  to 
answer  the  question  otherwise  than  by  confessing  it  to  be  by  your 
own  proper  fault  1  And  if  not,  what  is  the  improvement  which 
both  reason  and  interest  will  tell  you  should  be  made  of  the  dis- 
covery 1  Surely  it  must  be  the  part  of  every  ingenuous  mind, 
which  has  been  betrayed  into  carelessness  and  indifference, 
hitherto,  on  the  great  interests  of  eternity  ;  or  into  an  erroneous 
view  of  revealed  religion ;  to  rouse  from  the  delusion,  and  to 
search  and  look  into  those  things  which  are  presented  to  its  con- 
sideration, with  such  a  show  of  reason,  and  on  such  high  autho- 
rity. Surely  it  may  be  expected,  that  those  for  whom  a  gracious 
God  hath  done  so  much  will  at  last  inquire  what  their  part  and 
duty  is,  as  redeemed  to  God,  called  to  the  knowledge  of  his 
grace,  and  furnished  for  the  attainment  of  eternal  life,  through 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Otherwise,  eternal  life  and  end- 
less felicity  in  the  presence  of  God  can  have  no  attractions,  and 
everlasting  misery  and  despair  no  terrors,  to  rational  beings. 

Yet,  reasonable  as  this  expectation  surely  is — and  God  grant 
it  may  be  realized  even  in  one  instance  this  day — I  fear  it  will  be 
in  vain.  Practical  unbelief  is  so  common — disregard  and  indif- 
ference to  religion  so  general — and  the  love  of  the  world,  and 
exclusive  engagement  with  its  pursuits,  so  prevalent,  as  to  stifle 
and  silence  the  occasional  awakenings  of  the  conscience.  But 
let  me  entreat  you,  my  dear  hearers,  to  reflect  where  this  disre- 
gard of  God,  and  of  your  immortal  souls,  must  end.  To  consi- 
der how  conscience  will  be  quieted  when  it  awakes  upon  a  death 
bed,  under  the  agonies  of  an  unprovided-for  eternity — under  the 
remorse  of  abused  mercies,  disregarded  warnings,  and  a  reject- 
ed Saviour.  O,  that  I  could  raise  up  a  spirit  of  consideration 
and  inquiry  on  this  unspeakable  interest.  Surely  there  is  yet 
left  to  us  so  much  of  Christian  knowledge,  of  enlightened  rea- 
son, and  of  moral  worth,  as  might  form  a  wall  of  defence  for 
what  remains  of  Christian  principle  and  Christian  practice,  could 


[     16     ] 

it  but  be  prevailed  upon  to  step  out  and  avow  itself  as  on  the 
Lord's  side.  But  alas !  my  brethren,  we  must  take  up  the  la- 
mentation of  the  prophet,  over  Israel  of  old — "  The  whole  head 
is  sick :" — the  learned,  the  noble,  and  the  wealthy  of  the  land — 
the  heads  of  society,  with  a  few  shining  exceptions,  for  which 
God  be  praised — are  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  "  The 
whole  heart  is  faint :" — the  middle  class  of  society,  the  heart  and 
strength  of  our  country,  are  doubting  and  divided,  scattered  and 
peeled  by  every  wind  of  doctrine  which  can  blow  from  misguided 
zeal,  misplaced  ignorance,  honest  error,  and  dishonest  deceit ; 
while  all  below,  the  poor  and  the  ignorant  of  our  population,  is 
full  of  the  wounds  and  bruises  and  putrifying  sores  of  blasphemy, 
drunkenness,  and  sensuality.  Oh  !  what  an  account  has  this  eve- 
ry way  favoured  land  to  give  in  to  God  the  judge  of  all !  But  it 
must  be  given,  remember,  my  dear  hearers,  by  its  individual  po- 
pulation ;  for  nations,  as  such,  cannot  answer  at  the  judgment- 
seat;  and  in  the  dread  account  which  awaits  this  generation,  the 
influence  of  example  will  not  be  overlooked. 

And  may  God,  in  mercy,  impress  his  truth  upon  every  heart 
present. 

Now,  to  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  &c. 


00034002392 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


Form  No.  A-368,  Rev.  8/95 


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